Tuesday, 28 October 2008

Just a quickie, whilst I'm still on half term - Here's another army list, from my recent pseudo-battle against 73rd. In a continuation of the last scenario, the almost glorious 2/24th fought against the strange Necron foe again. They deployed poorly and died en masse, but they still managed to just about scrape a draw...and they certainly won their tea and cakes as the vile and resilient Necron Lord was eliminated by a single Guardsman armed with one of the 24th's ubiquitous grenade lanchers! You'll note this list is very similar to a previous one...:

Hi, folks! I'll keep this mostly simple: I'm very grateful for all the comments so far, and here are the pics of the latest work on my wyvern conversion. Particular thanks to Grey Death for this pic of the Bradley Linebacker - it may be local air defence, but it's been a good source of inspiration!

Basically, I'm pretty happy with the way the wyvern's progressing, but though I like the new C-brackets for the tubes (I drilled them), I think the re-jigged mounts are now a little too high. I'll see what I can do about lowering them.

Any thoughts on how I might bulk out the turret at the front? I might try and cut some extra armour plates - maybe spaced.

Sunday, 26 October 2008

Thanks to all those of you who have commented/encouraged/suggested so far - especially the recent comments from anonymous parties on 052 - I'm flattered: cheers!

Progress has been slow for two reasons: (1) waiting for parts from FW, and (2) having a house guest since last Monday. BUT The parts are here and they're just how I imagined them!

Photos. First, here's a close-up of how I've mounted the missile tubes so far - I've actually used both parts of the spotlight mounting, though I'll tidy that join up soon. Note the turret was not glued down at this point:

Now. Here are three pics of the turret configuration as it stands at the moment.

I played about with a number of options to replace the main gun, but I just couldn't get optical arrays looking right. Then I hit upon the idea of a heavy stubber in there - (P-M rules) just as a reserve for when the main ammo's expended - so I went with it. I figured as a defensive weapon it'd look alright. I think it does look quite neat, actually...but it looks too well-armed when it has the missile tubes as well. They must appear as the main weapon: if they look like a bolt-on then I feel the model's concept fails, and the heavy stubber (rubbish though it is) looks a bit too beefy.

Any thoughts? Please? I've only lightly glued the turret down, so I can make adjustments. I think I probably will, but we'll see.

As for the rear lasgun ports? Well, I like your ideas for comms equipment/searchlights, so I'll keep looking at those, but actually the tank accessory storage box you can see on the right in the pic above looks pretty good, so I might even contemlate mixing one or two of those in...

Oh, and for those who were wondering, THIS is what the autocannon turret looks like on the swept-back hull:

Saturday, 18 October 2008

The camera's card is playing up, so here are the latest progress pics. Two things to note include my favourite 'Irwin' knife (glad I bought it when I did - far better than Stanley knives) and the corgi, spark-out on the sofa in the background (the fire was on - mmm...cosy!).

The first problem solved was that of filling up the gap left behind the gunner's hatch having moved the top plate of the hull back. After umm-ing and ahh-ing and wondering where I'd find find plasticard in so small a market town, This was done using the spare back plate (from the basilisk variant) with the angle cut off. All I had to do was shave some of the rivets off - it's actually fitted more flush than it appears:

The second problem was mounting the missile launchers. As a stop-gap I'd blu-tacked the hydraulic rams from the 'dozer blade, but they were too chunky and at an odd angle. Having fitted the hull top plate (see pics, below) I still needed to get a better may of mounting the missile launchers. After trying almost everything I could find, I finally figured I should look for a chimera bit with the right angle on it. This is when I spotted the searchlight mount from the new tank accessory sprue. Imagine two of them, (without the handles,) one on each side of the turret. Sadly, I don't know exactly how big the missile launchers are, but I think this is the way forward! They're the perfect size and the perfect angle*:Next question for you luckypeople: What can I mount in the two chimera lasgun ports behind the turret? I was thinking of either antennae or nothing, but there's a chance I might be able to put magnets in the ball mounts...wel'll see.

ALSO, any suggestions for what should go in lieu of the main gun in the turret mantling? I was thinking of optics/targeting array - which would make sense - but I've no idea what to use for it. It's a surprisingly low and narrow space.

Answers on a postcard to the usual address, please...

- Drax.

PS: A question: Why don't the bits on a chimera model ever quite line up properly? - I'm not slack at modelling, and I've made about eight of the buggers: still, they're never quite right.

Friday, 17 October 2008

Or at least, at the pace of FW's shipping department...which is slow in a wonderful-yet-everso-slightly-frustratingly-British kind of a way. As in, "We'll probably charge your card before the end of the week, so the bits should be with you within about three weeks." Well, at least they're honest!

(not a new photo!)

Whilst I wait, I've been fiddling with the MSTTD (see comments, post 048), and I'm pretty happy with it so far. I have taken progress pics, but it's just gone midnight and I can't be bothered to fish them out of the camera, so that'll have to wait 'til this weekend. Luckily, I've worked out a better way of mounting the missile launchers than the dozer rams I used in the earlier mock-up...but you'll have to wait for the pics.

For those of you who were wondering, as FW don't do 'bitz', I've opted for the Imperial Navy rocket launchers as a cool-looking proxy for the FW sentinel rocket launchers. Included below are pics of two of the three FW components I've ordered (photos from FW website):

I know the track guards are an extravagance, but they're something different. I also ordered the autocannon turret, as the way I'm building this I'm should be able to choose whether to equip it as the wyvern or as the enclosed salamander (first mooted). I'm keeping my options open, and besides, the turret's an awesome sculpt!

Oh, and good news: I'm fairly sure I've wrked out how to do the front-loading chimera (the next conversion project).

Oh, and great news:

SATs exams in England were cancelled yesterday with immediate effect!

- Without a shadow of a doubt, yesterday was the most optimistic day I've had in five years as a teacher. And simply a brilliant day to be both an English teacher and Head of Year 9! Woo-hoo!

Monday, 13 October 2008

After a brief pseudo-game agaist 73rd a couple of weeks ago, I thought I'd post my 500pt army list.

I played against his Necrons, and as I'd never played them and he was relatively new against Guard, we decided to make it a 'first contact'-type scenario...and it was great! He's a great opponent, and the patrolling platoon+ of the 2/24th Cadian were bloody confused by the metallic death-bots!

We fought Combat Patrol rules with a 5th Ed scenario to an agreeable draw before my platoon was doubtless withdrawn to be cross-questioned by Imperial intel cells about their experiences.

Below is my recce force. I wanted to use one of my basic platoons and support it with some extra weaponry, as if they'd taken some extra heavy stuff out on patrol just in case. They also took a commissar with them, and he requisitioned a chimera as his command vehicle - again, just in case!

Sunday, 12 October 2008

THANKS FOR YOUR IDEAS SO FAR!(And Ron, thanks for the link: what a pleasant surprise that was!)As you can see, the progress on what I'm tentatively calling the 'Wyvern' chimera variant continues. In the following pics the front hull is glued to the track mounts, but the rest is dry-fitted. It's worth pointing out that the mounts for the missile launchers (see my last post) - actually the hydraulic pistons from the 'dozer blade - are just blu-tacked to give me an idea. Don't know if I'll stick with them yet, and the FW bitz will doubtless take a while...: I love the fact that the name plate fits so well on the top hatch!

Wednesday, 8 October 2008

Work's been very busy - no surprises there - so as forecast I've not been able to get as much done as I'd want. I'll get back into the swing of it yet.

BUT...work has started on my new chimera variant. Originally, this was going to be a version with a front ramp (a narrower version of the landraider one) with the driver shifting to the hull-weapon position - intended as a one-use transport pointed towards enemy lines and unleashed - maybe with a line towed behind it so the remains could be retrieved for salvage: seemed a suitably Guard-like idea...but it just doesn't fit with my Cadians. Still wanting to convert a chimera (and having bought one) I've done this, in no small part based on an idea from the Ammo Bunker, though I can't work out how to link to the actual page:The bits were cut freehand, so I cut over the line. I'll tidy it up flush when it goes together:This will go together something like this (and what follows here is literally a cut-and-pasted image - I've no idea how to scan things!):...but not necessarily with the autocannon turret (image from FW).

WHAT I'D LOVE TO GET FROM YOU, PLEASE...

...are any suggestions as to (a) a role for it; (b) an armament for it, and (c) a name for it. I'd like it to be a cool model. If it can have working rules too, that'd be great. Remember: keep it simple, please - I'm a bear of very little brain.

My rambling thoughts upto this point:The idea so far is that it's got a reduced/negated transport capacity and a longer-ranged weapon on its turret. Ideas for the weapon include an autocannon (above - this makes it look a lot like an enclosed scout salamander); T-L autocannon (which would give it more of a raison d'etre at least) or - and I like this one - two of the missile launchers from the FW Support Sentinels.

For those of you who don't know these (although I only have the downloaded trial rules) they can fire conventionally as missile launchers or in the indirect role to the same range. I'd use the FW Imperial Navy missile launchers (4 tubes) with one either side of a stubby turret. I also have an idea up my sleeve for a cool looking pintle-mounted weapon.

Therefore, is it a fast scout salamander without the lunacy of being open topped (almost certainly with improved comms) - maybe an OPV? Or is it a long-range direct-fire heavier support vehicle (maybe to transport a command section)? Or is it a field coversion to provide light, mobile, short-range artillery?

Answers on a postcard, please...

- Drax.

PS: I do take note of your suggestions: my veterans, for example, had their shoulder pads experimented on muchly last month!

About Me

Like so many, I've now forsaken GW and fallen utterly in love with Bolt Action, as well as occasional 15mm forays.
Oh, and using X-Wing to tell cool stories about a Long Time Ago in a Galaxy Far, Far Away...